A 21-year-old Oak Harbor man is accused of raping and molesting a young girl while he was babysitting her, court documents allege. Casey Eskildsen pleaded not guilty in Island County Superior Court Oct. 25 to rape of a child in the first degree and child molestation in the first degree. Detective Laura Price with the Island County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case after an 11-year-old girl told her parents that Eskildsen had raped and molested her on a regular basis over a year’s time when she was 8 or 9 years old, Price wrote in her report. She said Eskildsen babysat her and her brothers.

~ DID YOU KNOW? ~
By the time you finish reading this, 15 children will have been abused; In the next five minutes, 30 more; Within the next hour, 360 more; And by tonight, close to 8,000+ children will have suffered from abuse, 5 of which will die. Child abuse has increased 134% since 1980 and is now considered a worldwide epidemic. The high jump in child abuse deaths and the shocking increase in statistics highlights the frightening lack of public knowledge.